


what if princess justice really did get akumatized?

by ouijadarling



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is Princess Justice, Oneshot, chat noir x princess justice kiss, it’s my first ever ladybug fic so please don’t hate me if it is terrible haha, kiss, sorta romantic I guess idk, what-if fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28603086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ouijadarling/pseuds/ouijadarling
Summary: This is a What-If fic that happens during and after the Ladybug episode of ML,,and what would happen if Marinette really became Princess Justice and attempted to take Chat Noir’s Miraculous? The first thing she’d do is go for Lila...but of course Chat Noir  won’t let this villain destroy Paris, even if Ladybug seems to be MIA.edit: i am about to pass away i posted this eleven hours ago and it has 417 hits that is more than i have ever gotten in less than a month what the heckin heck thank you all for reading this now i am going to go choke to death because i cANTTTTTT
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 12
Kudos: 61





	what if princess justice really did get akumatized?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my VERY FIRST EVER and I am so excited about it, Miraculous Ladybug fic. I recently dived headfirst into this fandom, and I am OBSESSED. It’s ruined my life, I swear. I cannot believe me, a sixteen-year old girl, is spiraling this much over an animated children’s show, but that’s what I get for watching Chat Blanc. When I tell you I flipped....

“Marinette pushed me down the stairs!” 

_ Wait. What? _ Marinette’s mouth popped open as Lila clutched her knee and burst into fake tears. “N-no I didn’t!” she protested, but this time, the stares pointed her way weren’t curious. They were hostile. 

Behind her hand, Lila smirked as the students clustered around her peppered her with “Are you okay?” and “What happened?”

Twenty minutes later both of Marinette’s parents were in the school principal’s office while Lila re-explained her fake story, complete with weeping. Marinette couldn’t believe this. Not only did Principal Damocles believe Lila, everyone else in the office seemed to, as well.    
“Alya, I swear I didn’t,” Marinette said. “You believe me, right?”

But her best friend just stared back at her, as confused as she was. 

That was when Lila pointed at Marinette, her polished blue fingernail stabbing in her direction, and announced, “And she  _ also  _ stole my necklace!”

“No way!” Marinette defended.

But when her locker was opened and the necklace was produced, even her classmates looked skeptical. Worst of all was Adrien. He only shook his head a little bit from side to side, but that was enough. Marinette’s heart sank into the toes of her ballet flats. None of them believed her, and she hadn’t done anything wrong. This was all Lila’s fault, and why she had chosen to do this was unfathomable to Marinette. 

Her parents followed her as she left the school, heading for the main entrance doors. Tears were threatening to spill over as she pushed open the door--and a flood of crimson Akuma butterflies streamed in. Marinette’s eyes widened and she ducked, but just as she turned to run, an Akuma landed on her purse, and it bubbled over, dark red and sealing over, with Tikki still inside. 

“No-” Marinette started to say, but it cut off as the rage boiled up. It was everywhere, dark red and clouding her mind.  _ THIS IS LILA’S FAULT. NO ONE BELIEVES YOU, MARINETTE, AND THEY NEVER WILL.  _ She gritted her teeth, seething. “It is her fault. You’re right. It’s all of their faults!” 

An Akuma perched on Sabine’s arm, as well as the rest of her classmates, following behind her, and their eyes glazed as one. The familiar white glow of a moth mask blazed over Sabine’s face, casting a red shadow over her eyes. 

“Verity Queen, Princess Justice, I am Scarlet Moth. Since the innocent isn’t to be believed anymore, I’m giving you both the power to expose the truth. You will bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculouses.”

Princess Justice reached a hand up to her ear to remove her earrings. As she did, the red mist of the scarlet Akumas drifted around her, forming her civilian clothes into a scarlet dress and red boots. Moth wings fluttered on the back of the dress, and a red tiara formed atop her head. 

“Go, my Princess Justice, and defend truth and order. Punish those who stand in your way.” 

A smile formed on her face.  _ That’s right. I will enact justice and make everyone who doubted my innocence pay.  _ Turning, her hand dropping from her ear, she pointed a red-gloved finger at the ceiling. A crimson spike dropped down impossibly fast, spearing into the floor and cracking the area. The students that hadn’t been Akumatized screamed and ran in the other direction, and those that had, followed them. Lila was among the crowd, as were Alya and Adrien. Another spike, led by Princess Justice’s directive, plunged down, and the three, along with four others, were forced to run for the stairs. Chloe shrieked as she ran towards the stairs, Sabrina huffing behind her. 

_ Bang! Bang!  _

The stairs were fenced in by scarlet bars, Princess Justice having sealed all four people in the stairwell. She snarled under her breath, realizing that Adrien was nowhere to be found. He must have run out just in time.  _ I’ll find you, Adrien Agreste, even now that you’ve run away. You can count on it. _

“My daddy won’t like this!” Chloe snapped. Her ponytail snapped in the air as she jabbed her finger at Princess Justice. “You had better let me out of here right now! Do you  _ know  _ who I  _ am?” _

__ Alya, her glasses slightly askew, pulled Chloe’s arm back. “She’s been Akumatized, Chloe, of course not!”

_ That’s not true,  _ Princess Justice was about to say, but then the rage seeped in again. “All of you, this is all your fault. Especially  _ you.  _ You got Marinette expelled from school, and none of her friends believed her because of your lies! _ ”  _

Lila gulped visibly, paling slightly, but then her green eyes narrowed. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” she said. “If it’s anyone’s fault she got kicked out, it’s hers!”

Princess Justice snarled. “You’ll have plenty of time to rethink that--in the catacombs!” A crystallized red stalactite punched through the ceiling, shattering the stairs. She jumped to the top step, her moth wings flapping to keep her aloft as Lila, Chloe, Sabrina and Alya plunged down into the darkness of the stairwell. Below the school, she knew, were the Parisian catacombs, a network of tunnels spreading under the city. There, she could give Lila precisely what she deserved. As she was about to follow, Hawkmoth spoke. 

“Princess Justice, Chat Noir is right outside the school. Ladybug is sure to join him shortly. Go, and bring me their Miraculouses!”

She turned, soaring just below the ceiling as she headed for the doors. The so-called superheroes of Paris would be the first to go, and then she would be the only defender of right and wrong.  _ Chat Noir, your time is up.  _ Princess Justice removed her earrings as she ran, the only indication that what she was doing wasn’t right was the purse banging and shaking against her hip. Ladybug’s kwami must still be trapped in there, she thought. Annoying little pest. 

“Come on out, kitty,” she called. “You have something I want!”

Chat Noir swung down from the rooftop, his scepter shrinking into a thin metal rod again. “Really? I never would’ve guessed.” She snatched for his hand, and he whipped it away just in time. “Nice try.” Then his eyes landed on her clenched palm, from which the earrings were glowing faintly, and he paused for a moment, scanning the skies around them for a familiar figure in red with black spots to swing in. 

Princess Justice smiled. “Missing your Ladybug? I bet you want to know what I have.” She opened her palm, the earrings shining up from them. Chat Noir’s eyes widened.

“Those are--”

“Ladybug’s earrings? She gave up so quickly,” Princess Justice said. “It was almost sad. If you hand over your Miraculous, I promise I won’t even scratch your pretty face.” She reached out to stroke his cheek, and he slapped her hand away. 

“Those earrings don’t belong to you. And if I know Ladybug, she would never give them up so easily. I’ll be taking those back now.” Faster than she could whip them away, Chat Noir had snatched them from her hand so quickly she didn’t see him move, and was already atop the school building, preparing to make the jump to the next rooftop.

“After him!” Hawkmoth ordered. “We cannot let him slip away!”   
“On it.” She was already flicking her wings, lifting off the ground. Chat Noir looked back over his shoulder to gauge his distance, and he ran faster when he saw her following. “You can’t run forever, kitty cat!”

He could, however, make his way to the cluster of shops overlooking the Seine river, vanishing into a cramped alleyway. Princess Justice landed, her boots hitting the ground where she had seen him disappear, and saw no sign of him. But if there was one thing she knew, it was that he would go to the highest point he could find around here, in the hope that Ladybug would go there as well. 

Just as she had suspected, he’d gone to the Eiffel tower. She could just make out a black-costumed figure scaling the tower faster than should have been possible. 

“Princess Justice, every move you make from here is imperative. In order for this to work, you must be the thing Chat Noir does not have,” Hawkmoth said through the mask. She fluttered up to the first rampart of the tower, her feet landing soundlessly on the beam. Jump by jump, she made her way up the tower, landing just behind Chat Noir. 

“Oh, kiiiitty! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Chat Noir whipped around and in a flash, had made it down four levels. She followed him, growling under her breath. “Stop moving around!”

On the rooftops overlooking the river, she cornered him. 

Bar after bar of corrugated scarlet crashed down, forming cage walls that never seemed to be able to pen him in. Chat Noir dodged them easily, but Princess Justice had chosen this rooftop for a reason--the gaps between the other two on either side were too large for him to jump without a running start, and the cages smashing down inches behind him would not allow that. He backed up into a wall of bars, his fingers moving restlessly and his tail twitching. 

“Ladybug a no-show?” Princess Justice taunted him. “What a shame. It seems she really did give up.”

“If you really think she just gave up, you’re less bright than I originally thought!” Cat Noir shot back. “Milady would never lose to a villain like you!”

“Bold words from a trapped little kitty,” she spat, and with a last stab of her finger,  _ crash!  _ Three cage walls of deep ruby red slammed down around him, enclosing him. The bars elongated, forming a ceiling. “Any last words before I take your Miraculous?”

“Actually, about that.” Cat Noir grinned. 

Princess Justice backed up a step reflexively. She’d forgotten that he hadn’t yet used his Miraculous power.  _ But it won’t end here, not by a long shot. _

_ “Cataclysm!” _ he shouted, and the crimson cages shattered into a thousand shards of red, splintering everywhere. The rooftop underneath him cracked, and above, the cell tower began to crumble. Princess Justice laughed as Chat Noir looked up, his eyes wide, as it toppled down upon him, a huge cloud of debris going up. She kicked up, making it to the next roof as the gray completely enveloped Chat Noir. 

“I need to be Ladybug now,” she said in an undertone, smirking to herself. The plan was going perfectly. No other Akumatized victim had ever made it this far, she bet. Pathetic people, ruled by their anger. Princess Justice needed only righteous vengeance to act upon, and there was plenty of that in her heart. “When I’m through, everyone in Paris will suffer!”

In a moment, the red Akuma bubbles had transformed her dress and moth wings into a Ladybug outfit, complete with lucky charm and mask. “Chat Noir!” she called, running onto the rooftop. Underneath a pile of rubble was the superhero, his eyes closed. Princess Justice dragged him out of the wreckage, breathing hard. “Chat Noir, wake up!” She bent over him, and when his eyes flickered open he gasped.

“Milady, it’s you!”

“I’m so sorry, Chat Noir.” She put her hands on either side of his face, supporting him lest he collapse again. “I didn’t know where you were, and it took me so long to get everyone out of the school. Are you alright?”

“Now that you’re here…” His lips turned up in a smile. “Of course I am.”

“Oh, Chaton.” She leaned forward, pulling him up to meet her mouth. “I was so worried.” Chat Noir sighed as her lips met his, leaning into the kiss. He tasted of smoke and ash, but she wasn’t focused on that.  _ Come on. Just a liiiittle more.  _ His ring slid, and his eyes began to open a little bit. Panicked, she kissed him harder, and at the same time pulled off the ring fully and yanked the Miraculous earrings out of his closed hand. He wrenched away from her, but she was already backing away, the Akuma bubbles returning her dress and wings. Princess Justice couldn’t help but laugh. “You were so easy to fool, Chaton.” Chat Noir’s face was crestfallen, but determination was flashing in his eyes still. “I hope you enjoyed that kiss. That was the closest you’ll ever come to having Ladybug again, now that I finally have your Miraculous!”

Hawkmoth was exultant. “Finally! After all this time, the hour is at hand. Bring me the Miraculous, Princess Justice, and we can at last make everything right!”

Princess Justice was turning, about to jump off the rooftop and soar to the observatory, when from behind her she heard running footsteps and a grunt, and Chat Noir slammed into her, knocking her off the roof. She screamed once, a quick “NO!” before both plunged down into empty air. 

Her wings flapped frantically, a last-ditch attempt to save herself from a quick death splattered across the asphalt, but Cat Noir was holding her too tightly to wrench out of his grasp and leave him to fall on his own. Instead, she was able to slow their descent, but Cat Noir wrapped his arms around her back, forcing her wings flat against her so that they couldn’t move.

“What are you doing? You may be a cat, but even you won’t be able to land on your feet!” Princess Justice yelled.

“Try me!”

The ground was so close. Too close. “You’ll kill us both, Chaton!”

_ “Only Milady is allowed to call me that!”  _ But twenty feet from the ground, he let go of her, and she beat her wings hard, landing lightly on the ground. He was falling alone now-something inside her cried out, crying  _ CHATON!  _ to no one. In her hand were the Miraculouses, still intact. She could turn away now. She didn’t have to watch him fall and hit the ground. She could take them to Hawkmoth and be Princess Justice with no superheroes to hinder her power. And yet she still ran, and he landed in her arms like he’d meant to land there all along. 

Princess Justice didn’t have long to wonder why she’d done that, because Chat Noir gripped her arm and flipped her over his shoulder, her back slamming into the cobblestoned sidewalk. He leaned over her, one arm pinning down her sternum and his knee on her stomach. “The Miraculouses back. Now.”

In her hand, his ring was flashing. Seven minutes left. The earrings had even less. 

She coughed. The fall had taken a lot out of her. “You don’t understand. I need these.”

“No, I get it.” Chat Noir shook his head. “Every Akumatized victim wants to be the one in power, so that no one can ever make them feel bad again. If you just give me back the Miraculouses, when Ladybug arrives she can fix everything, and you’ll be fine again.”

Ladybug? 

“I can fix everything?” she asked.

Chat Noir looked confused, but he nodded. “Just give me back my ring.” 

Princess Justice let her fingers uncurl. Hawkmoth had been yelling orders, but she wasn’t listening. Chat Noir slid the ring back onto his finger and tucked away the earrings before getting up. “Can you tell me where your Akuma is, so I can destroy it?”

“The...the purse.” With a quick motion, he tore the delicate fabric in half, and the Akuma fluttered out. The bubbles began to form on Princess Justice’s outfit, rending the fabric and returning it back to--back to--- _ He can’t see my civilian self!  _

Marinette bolted upright, her mind fuzzy with dazed memories of _ what just happened? _ , and Cat Noir had only a moment to blink in surprise before she pushed him into the river just as her outfit returned to normal. Without waiting to see if he was alright, she bolted. 

Ten minutes later she met him as Ladybug. He didn’t question where she had been, and she didn’t ask why he was dripping wet. His only statement was, “I missed you, Milady.”

“You handled that by yourself, though,” Ladybug teased. “I didn’t think you even needed me.” She threw her charm into the air, yelling “ _ Lucky charm!”  _ and as the ladybug flurries restored Paris to its usual beauty and the sun dipped below the horizon, Chat Noir turned to her.

“You know what they say about Paris at night….” He leaned in for a kiss, and she put her hand over his mouth and pushed him away gently. 

“Not tonight, Chaton.”  _ And besides, I’m in love with another boy,  _ was what she normally said, but tonight, she didn’t add it. They’d been through enough. 

“So maybe someday?” His smile was hopeful, but his green eyes were sparkling with mischief. “I’ll make you fall for me eventually, Bugaboo. You can’t resist me forever.”

Ladybug laughed. “We’ll see, kitty.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos if you liked this—it just made me feel so good to write it  
> that I don’t mind if it’s terrible, because I actually feel happy for the first time in a while. (Unchecked depression gang, rise up)


End file.
